Reversing the declines in biodiversity trends is a widely adopted goal, reflected in both the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. In this presentation, we will show two examples of how models and scenarios can be mobilized to provide support to achieving these goals in the context of the broader sustainable agenda. In a first example, multiple economic and biodiversity models are used to assess long-term, global scale, pathways aiming to explore whether—and how—humanity can reverse the declines in terrestrial biodiversity caused by habitat conversion reverse global biodiversity losses (Leclere et al, 2020). The results show that i) immediate efforts of unprecedented ambition and coordination could enable reversing the global terrestrial biodiversity trends caused by habitat conversion, and ii) that an integrated approach, combining increased protection and restoration efforts with sustainable production and consumption measures, is essential to not only enable a bending of global biodiversity trends before 2050, but also limit trade-offs and harness synergies with other sustainable goals. In a second example, we will demonstrate how models and scenarios are also mobilized to support policy design at the EU scale, with an application focusing on assessing the land use, LULUCF emissions and biodiversity implications of EU climate (e.g., Fitfor55 package and LULUCF regulation) and biodiversity (e.g., Nature Restoration Law) and their interactions.

How to cite: Havlík, P., Leclere, D., and Visconti, P.: Modeling of in support of long-term pathways and EU policies for bending the curve of biodiversity loss, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-22576, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-22576, 2024.

Seabird migration is driven by general wind circulation and productive ocean regions. As a result, bird migration takes place along distinct corridors or "flyways” that have evolved by earth’s large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. These flyways form a link between climate and bird migration, and by simulating their pattern we might better understand the present corridor and predict the potential future impacts of climate change. However, few studies have focused on modelling flyways (especially for multiple bird strategies, populations, seasons, species and oceans), with most of them simulating trajectories of individual birds.

We use climatic data in combination with a least-cost-path modelling approach to simulate and describe multiple seabird flyways. By combining bird tracking data and machine learning, we are able to infer whether the flyways used by the birds optimise time and/or energy. We focussed on five seabird flyways of arctic terns and sooty shearwaters, both spring and autumn migration either over the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. We will show that a bird's effort is influenced by tailwinds, crosswinds and food availability, and we use this to calculate how close to the theoretical optimal migration (time- or energy-minimising) these birds actually fly. Our findings show that it is possible to recreate observed flyways using environmental data and that these simulations can generate predictions about the effect of future climate change.

How to cite: Skyllas, N., Verhoeven, M., Loonen, M., and Bintanja, R.: Simulating and analysing seabird flyways: An approach combining least-cost path modelling and machine learning, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-1572, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-1572, 2024.

River corridors, i.e. channel and adjacent floodplains, are hotspots of biodiversity and provide manifold ecosystem services. Their functioning and thus their ability to maintain biodiversity and to provide ecosystem services is controlled by a complex interplay of hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic processes. These processes both affect and depend on hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic connectivity within the river system. Today, process regimes of most (large) rivers are affected by human activities such as the construction of dams and reservoirs, flood protection measures or the withdrawal of water for agricultural irrigation. Dams modify longitudinal connectivity and thus the natural flow and sediment regime, while flood protection dikes disconnect channel and floodplain. There is a growing body of research on how hydrology-geomorphology-ecology-interactions shape river corridors and how these interactions are disturbed by humans. However, these insights tend to arise from studies at either the small river system or the reach scale. Truly understanding the impact of human interventions on rivers requires a dynamic, system scale perspective on process regimes. In our contribution, we take the river network in the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia as an example and demonstrate the use of satellite time series to make a functional assessment of the process regimes controlling riparian ecosystem development. This river network has a total length of 75.000 km draining a catchment of 1.2 million km². We start the assessment with the delineation of the river network and the riparian zone from digital elevation models. Then, we use a novel unsupervised approach to create a map of landcover and general habitat types within the river corridors. In a second step, we create a dam and reservoir database in order to assess river fragmentation. In a third step, we use time series of Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to assess hydrologic and geomorphic dynamics as well as vegetation development. These time series are the basis to analyze the relationship of e.g. floodplain inundation dynamics and vegetation trends or the impact of flood pulses on morphological change triggering vegetation change. The results show that the Aral Sea Basin is highly fragmented and that this fragmentation influences downstream process regimes and initiates modifications in the riparian ecosystems. Our satellite time series approach is able to capture relevant process dynamics and their impact on ecosystem development (i) in data-scarce regions, (ii) at large spatial scales (large river basins) and (iii) at high temporal frequency as enabled by short revisit times of current satellite constellations and cloud computing. Thus, it is a promising way to generate system-scale knowledge on the interaction of hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic processes being the basis for biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem service provision in river corridors.

How to cite: Betz, F., Lauermann, M., Schmitt, R., and Heckmann, T.: Towards system scale understanding of the complex interaction of hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic processes controlling ecosystem functioning in river corridors: Using satellite time series to assess the river network in the Aral Sea Basin, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-11602, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-11602, 2024.

The recently announced Freshwater Challenge (FWC) initiative (https://www.freshwaterchallenge.org/) at the United Nations Water conference, sets an ambitious goal of restoring 300,000 kilometers of degraded rivers and 350 million hectares of degraded wetlands across the globe by 2030. Central to moving towards this goal will be including tangible actions for freshwater and linked ecosystems into supporting country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). This in turn relies on the availability and fidelity of geospatial information that can be the basis for planning. The currently available geospatial data that captures accurate delineation of riparian zones, i.e., the transitional semiterrestrial/semiaquatic areas regularly influenced by fresh water, usually extending from the edges of water bodies to the edges of upland communities, must be improved to address the needs highlighted in the Freshwater Challenge. This presentation gives a methodology for deriving a global potential riparian zones layer obtained by processing wetlands, riparian buffers, headwater catchments, layers, assets, and information. We process near real-time land cover dataset from dynamic World (https://dynamicworld.app/), global wetland maps (Tootchi et al., 2019), and High‐Resolution Global Hydrography Maps (Yamazaki et al., 2019; Amatulli et al., 2022) for our analysis. We further explore how this analysis will inform governments around the world on assessing the current state of Riparian Zones as well as estimating benefits from restoration effort, allowing movement towards the goals set by the Freshwater Challenge.

How to cite: Mohammed, I., Shaad, K., Bolten, J., and Bezerra, M.: Global Potential Riparian Zones Estimation, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-2306, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-2306, 2024.

This study presents the seasonal monitoring of sediment acidification in two intertidal mudflat stations in the Auray river estuary (Atlantic coast, France). Sediment geochemistry and living benthic foraminifera and the preservation of their shells were investigated from April 2022 to July 2023. The development of eelgrass meadows was observed in both mudflats during Summer, something that had not happened for over ten years. Before these sprouts, the mudflats were bare, with seasonal algal deposits, and colonised by cable bacteria. Cable bacteria activity is characterised by electrogenic sulphide oxidation (e-SO_x) measured by O₂, H₂S and pH microprofilings. e-SO_x redesigns diagenetic processes generating strong pH gradients within the first few centimetres of sediment. The upstream mudflat showed seasonal dynamics of e-SO_x. Cable bacteria appeared to be inactive in Winter (∆pH = 0.4) and led to intense pore water acidification during Fall (∆pH = 1.9) under meadow senescence. In the downstream mudflat, e-SO_x remained continuous through the year with ∆pH from 0.9 in Winter to 2.3 in Fall. At both stations, the Ω_calc decreased from supersaturated to values well below 1 in the first few millimetres of sediment, excepted in Winter when Ω_calc was undersaturated due to freshwater flow. All year long, calcareous specimens, mostly dominated by Ammonia morphocomplex tepida and Haynesina germanica, showed test dissolution below the sedimentary oxic layer. During Fall, at both stations, calcareous specimens dwindled and tests were extremely corroded. In the meantime, the agglutinated species Ammobaculites balkwilli dominated the assemblage. During Spring, the upstream station was the setting for a H. germanica bloom after the cable bacteria seemed no longer active in Winter. During Summer, the upstream station showed a well-developed eelgrass meadow together with e-SO_x (ΔpH = 1.3). Agglutinated species dominated the foraminiferal assemblage with A. balkwilli in the upper 5-mm and Eggerelloides scaber deeper down. The eelgrass colonisation has seemed to be beneficial to the foraminiferal community and stimulates its dynamism by encouraging a new species equilibrium in the assemblage. The most impacted species seemed to be A. morphocomplex tepida as between Summer 2022 and 2023 their density and relative abundance felt sharply in favour of Elphidium spp., Quiqueloculina spp. and A. balkwilli. These summery observations were quite different from those at the downstream station where cable bacteria were active all year long. Surprisingly, agglutinated species remained in minor proportions and A. morphocomplex tepida more or less constant. Moreover, dead assemblages showed important losses of calcareous tests where cable bacteria were active conducting to an organic lining enrichment with depth. To summarize, our study shows that foraminiferal ecology responds quickly to environmental changes in coastal sediments making them suitable for biomonitoring while the loss of their tests in acidic environments weakens their applicability for reconstructing temporal environmental chronicles.

How to cite: Daviray, M., Geslin, E., Beneteau, E., Quichard, S., Tougne, M., and Metzger, E.: From electrical cable bacteria acidification to eelgrass colonisation: seasonal monitoring of foraminiferal ecology and shell preservation on estuarine mudflats., EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-1118, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-1118, 2024.

  The environmental issues caused by marine debris and the problem of habitat pollution for marine organisms are pervasive worldwide. Both floating debris and sunken debris contaminate various habitats, including coastlines, coral reefs, and seaweed beds. Various marine organisms exposed to such marine debris ultimately suffer from entanglement and ingestion, with sea turtles, in particular, accounting for 66% of reported cases of harm among all marine mammals. In Korea, various cases of mortality due to entanglement and ingestion in sea turtles have been widely reported. To comprehend the correlation between the behavior, habitats, and marine debris associated with sea turtles, ecological research is being conducted through location tracking. it is essential to conduct habitat degradation research for sea turtles by analyzing their spatial behavior using location-based methods and understanding feeding patterns using various environmental information. To address these issues, it is crucial to accurately understand the movement routes and activity patterns of marine organisms. In the field of wildlife research, various studies are being conducted using geographic information systems to utilize diverse analytical methods.

  In this study, we aimed to develop a web-responsive analysis tool for continuous tracking of sea turtle behavior and habitat foraging. The analysis module comprises three parts: the preprocessing module, spatial analysis module, and exploratory analysis module. The preprocessing module functions to extract necessary data from Argos satellite-received location information and refine it into clean data. It extracts latitude, longitude, sea surface temperature, and depth information from multiple files, organizes them into a single table, and saves them in a analyzable file format. The analysis module includes functions for deriving sea turtle activity ranges and overlapping analyses of habitat within activity zones. The activity range analysis utilizes Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) based on sea turtle location point data. Bandwidth, defined automatically based on the distribution of accumulation and points, allows for efficient analysis. The habitat overlapping analysis integrates various biological occurrence information such as coral, algae, and jellyfish within the sea turtle's activity zone. This enables exploration of the sea turtle's habitat environment within dense areas. The exploratory analysis module offers visualization features for location information, received depth, and sea surface temperature derived from data received by Argos satellites. Depth and sea surface temperature details are presented alongside location information, utilizing color coding for enhanced comprehension.

  The analysis module and the platform it is implemented on were developed in the form of a responsive web application using the open-source R-shiny. The responsive web application allows researchers to input and analyze sea turtle location data directly from a web page in any internet-enabled environment. It is fast and efficient as the results can be promptly visualized on a map. The sea turtle behavioral analysis tool developed in this study enables researchers to obtain standardized information related to behavior and habitat using location-based sea turtle data received from various satellites. It establishes a systematic approach for researchers to easily utilize this information through the web.

How to cite: Taehoon, K., Bo ram, K., Sang Hee, H., and Chol young, L.: Development of a Web-Responsive Analysis Tool for Tracking Sea Turtle Behavior and Habitat, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-15186, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15186, 2024.

PICES special research project “SEAturtle” launched in 2019 to understand the ecology of sea turtles around Jeju Island in relation to environmental stressors. Though COVID 19 had interrupted the project, we had quite a successful outcome over the last 5 years. Until now (June 15, 2023), a total of 16 iridium transmitters were deployed on sea turtles (14 on green sea turtles and 2 on loggerhead sea turtles). Among them, we received the signals successfully from 15 sea turtles. We found that quite a proportion of green sea turtles released in Jeju Island (N = 4 out of 12, approx. 40%) overwintered nearby even in the cold sea where the temperature dropped to 15 °C. The diving duration increased to approx. 6 hrs with decreasing temperature. Most of migrating green sea turtles (N = 4) traveled toward southern Japan which suggests a strong link to the population in Japan. Our population genetics result on green sea turtles stranded suggests that a subunit of Jeju population also have an affinity to Japan population. On the other hand, one of our loggerhead sea turtles moved westward but the other moved southward from Jeju Island, suggesting that they may also have connectivity to both Japan and China. Our populations genetics and stable isotope analysis on the commensal barnacles support this. We also have actively worked on the threat of plastics on Jeju populations and found that derelict recreational fishing gears might cause more serious problems than commercial derelict fishing gears. Microplastics are other threats to them too. To conserve the population of sea turtles in Jeju Island, we need further extensive research and should keep up international cooperation.

How to cite: Kim, T., Jang, S., Kim, M.-Y., Kim, B.-Y., Jo, K., Jang, S., Im, J., Balazs, G., Nishizawa, H., Ka Kan NG, C., Shillinger, G., and María Early Capistrán, M.: Overwintering and migration of sea turtles in Jeju Island of Korea: lessons from “SEAturtle” PICES special research project (2019-2023) , EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-2513, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-2513, 2024.

Freshwater biodiversity is critically affected by human modifications of terrestrial land use and land cover (LULC). Yet, knowledge of the spatial extent and magnitude of LULC-aquatic biodiversity linkages is still surprisingly limited, impeding the implementation of optimal management strategies. Here, we compiled fish diversity data across a 160,000-km² subtropical river catchment in Thailand characterized by exceptional biodiversity yet intense anthropogenic alterations, and attributed fish species richness and community composition to contemporary terrestrial LULC across the catchment. We created a spatially explicit model and estimated a spatial range of LULC effects extending up to about 20 km upstream from sampling sites. The model explained nearly 60 % of the variance in the observed species richness, associated with major LULC categories including croplands, forest, and urban areas. We find that integrating both spatial range and magnitudes of LULC effects is needed to accurately predict fish species richness. Further, projected LULC changes showcase future gains and losses of fish species richness across the river network and offer a scalable basis for riverine biodiversity conservation and land management, allowing for potential mitigation of biodiversity loss in highly diverse yet data-deficient tropical to sub-tropical riverine habitats.

How to cite: Zhang, H., Blackman, R., Furrer, R., Osathanunkul, M., Brantschen, J., Di Muri, C., Harper, L., Hänfling, B., Niklaus, P., Pellissier, L., Schaepman, M., Zong, S., and Altermatt, F.: Terrestrial land cover shapes fish diversity in major subtropical rivers, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-13341, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-13341, 2024.

Biodiversity plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystem functioning. Quantifying the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on plant diversity and creating a prediction map of biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) can provide data and mechanism support for biodiversity conservation and restoration. Species richness (SR) serves as one of the indicators of biodiversity. In this study, we developed a SR estimation model based on the random forest algorithm, using 275 SR observation data, soil attribute data, meteorological data, topographical data, and human activity data. We assessed the pattern of SR on the QTP from 2000 to 2020, analyzed its spatiotemporal variation, and further evaluated significant environmental factors influencing vegetation alpha diversity. Our results showed that (1) Climate factor is the main influencing factor of SR spatial variation on the QTP, followed by terrain conditions. (2) Machine learning can account for 56% of SR and unveil distribution patterns showing a decrease in species richness from southeast to northwest on the QTP. (3) Over the past 20 years, there has been an increase in SR, particularly in the southeastern region.

How to cite: Zhang, Y. and Zhou, T.: The distribution pattern of vascular plant alpha diversity in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-1401, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-1401, 2024.

Agricultural land area is increasing globally despite the loss of productive agricultural lands in some world regions. The knowledge about major agricultural land changes and the impacts on the quality of land in both cropland and grassland in Africa is still very limited. We conducted an African continent-wide assessment of the dynamics of agricultural landscapes (i.e., gains, losses, and net change). With pressure mounting to halt biodiversity loss and stem land degradation in agricultural areas across all world regions, promoting sustainable agriculture requires not only an understanding of agricultural land-use change but also the impacts of such changes on land quality.
We identify influencing factors and model the quality of land associated with agricultural land gains and losses between 2000 and 2018. Land quality in gained and displaced croplands and grasslands was established using spatially-explicit analysis of changes in Net Primary Productivity, soil organic carbon content, crop suitability and percent yield change for five major crops of global importance grown across Africa. These are maize, rice, soybean, wheat, and alfalfa.
Influencing factors in each agricultural land change area (i.e., areas of cropland and grassland gains and losses) were examined. In cropland loss and gain areas, settlement development,
proximity to perennial rivers/water bodies, and access to a major road were important. For example, most land areas transitioning to cropland in Africa were associated with large distances away from major roads. The preceding finding suggests the remoteness of newly gained croplands. However, distances to a major road, waterbody, settlement, and elevation were important for explaining grassland dynamics. Land quality was better in gained
croplands than in those lost, whereas gained grasslands were of lesser quality compared to areas of grassland loss.
Five typologies of African countries were developed based on net yield and amount of land cultivated per crop in cropland change areas. Type 1 typifies net yield increase and cultivated land decrease, while type 2 is characterized by yield increase consequent upon cropland expansion. Net yield and land remain unchanged in type 3, while in type 4, cultivated land increased, but yield decreased for maize in 40% of African countries, and in type 5, yield and land area decreased. This study thus provides evidence about the quality of land in gained and lost agricultural areas and generalizable insights on their dynamics across Africa.

How to cite: Akinyemi, F. O. and Speranza, C. I.: Changes to agricultural landscapes impact the quality of land: An African continent-wide assessment in gained and displaced agricultural lands, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-21129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-21129, 2024.

Invasive species can cause severe economic damages, ecosystem alterations, and can even threat human health. In the global warming scenario, which can act as a driving force for the expansion of thermophilic species, we investigated for the first time the economic damage caused by the invasive bearded fireworm, Hermodice carunculata, to artisanal longline fishery in the Mediterranean Sea. We focused on bottom longline fishery targeting the highly prized white seabream Diplodus sargus, investigating catch composition of the fishing gear and Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) of species caught, with particular emphasis on the economic damage caused by the bearded fireworm, H. carunculata, in relation to water temperature. Our results clearly indicated direct and indirect economic damage to fishing activities practiced in the southeastern coast of Sicily (Ionian Sea). Type and extent of the damage caused by the invasive worm (H. carunculata) were discussed in relation to temporal scale and overall yields obtained by this traditional artisanal fishery, and some solutions are proposed. However, the actual situation requires special attention because it is expected to worsen in the context of the global warming future scenarios, such that further studies are urgently needed.

How to cite: Mancini, E., Martellucci, R., Marino, S., Lombardo, B. M., Scacco, U., and Tiralongo, F.: Impact of Hermodice carunculata (Pallas, 1766) (Polychaeta: Amphinomidae) on artisanal fishery: A case study from the Mediterranean Sea, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-18071, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18071, 2024.

Understanding migrational behavior of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Mediterranean basin is of greatest importance in terms of research on cetaceans, but also in terms of conservation for a specie considered as ‘endangered’ based on the IUCN Red List criteria. We investigate in this study the migrational behavior of several individuals from this population. Several datasets (telemetry-tracking, satellite-estimated chlorophyll concentration and oceanic currents) are used to assess their long- and short-term behavioral adaptations to diverse biomes. We highlight the fact that meeting points with the North Atlantic population exist at strategical environmental locations. We prove that migrating fin whales show distinct swimming behaviors depending on the lunar phases by comparing their daily distances swam to the tortuosity of their paths. These distinct behaviors might be due to prey availability as well as acting as a temporal trigger to maximize chances of reproduction success. Indeed, this migration strategies of the Mediterranean population is also explained by reproductive constraints of an isolated population susceptible to inbreeding. We then focus the study on two fin whale paths in the Strait of Sicily showing that they are able to communicate between each others, adapt their foraging area to instantaneous moon-driven changes of oceanic conditions but also to follow cyclic seasonal variations of resources availability. We finally bring a new insight on an alternative pattern for migration strategies of fin whales in the Mediterranean sea.

How to cite: Fontana, C., Glotin, H., and Brandini, C.: Alternative migration strategies of fin whales in the Mediterranean sea : evidence of a lunar influence, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-15721, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-15721, 2024.

Biodiversity and the Earth climate system are coupled through multiple biotic and abiotic feedbacks. Although there are clear links between the two systems, there is a lack of integrative research to evaluate them. One reason is that both systems operate on different scales, impacting integration efforts. In addition, the state of the art for each has evolved at different rates over recent decades. The growing number of satellite missions has made it possible to measure Earth system variables on a global scale and with great frequency. This enormous amount of data, captured even on an hourly basis, in tandem with a network of gauging stations, and open-access policies have boosted Earth system modeling and projections, and thus increased our understanding of one of the Earth's components (i.e. climate). Biodiversity data has also increased, albeit at a slower rate. Citizen science, along with the application of different technologies such as camera traps, phenocams, bioacoustics and, more recently, eDNA, are enabling scientists to obtain data more efficiently. However, there are still large gaps in geographic and taxonomic coverage.This is partially related to abrupt biodiversity gradients and insufficient  explanatory variables that hinder modeling  biodiversity as smooth gradients in climate systems. Another reason is the difference between data formats and approaches among fields; for example, biodiversity data are often recorded as spatial points, in contrast to gridded satellite data. All these pose numerous challenges for a more coordinated and cross-cutting research. As a starting point, it is our task to reach other scientific communities and offer harmonized solutions for data integration and analysis. Specifically, in the Biodiversity Building Blocks for Policy project (B-Cubed) we are developing informatics workflows to facilitate the analysis of species occurrence information in a data cube format. We are using, though are not limited to, the world’s largest biodiversity database, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), to provide species occurrence information in a more interoperable format. Furthermore, we are also leveraging the concept of data cubes to standardise access to biodiversity data using the Essential Biodiversity Variables framework. Currently, the implementation of species occurrence cubes is aimed at analyzing invasive species, improving species distribution modeling techniques, and developing effective indicators for informing policy. We strongly believe that data cubes will facilitate both data sharing and processing, and the co-development of tools and approaches between biodiversity and Earth sciences, which will undoubtedly benefit cross-cutting research. Synergies between biodiversity and Earth system sciences are urgently needed for better informing decision makers about feedbacks in both systems that can respond to adopted and upcoming policies.

How to cite: Estupinan Suarez, L. M., Abraham, L., Adriaens, T., Breugelmans, L., Clarke, D. A., Desmet, P., Dove, S., Faulkner, K. T., Fernandez, M., Hendrickx, L. A., Hui, C., Joly, A., Kumschick, S., Langeraert, W., Martini, M., Miller, J., Oldoni, D., Pereira, H., Preda, C., and Groom, Q. and the Biodiversity Building Blocks for Policy Project: Biodiversity Data Cubes for Cross-Cutting Science and Policy, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-6353, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6353, 2024.

Opencast limestone mines, being oligotrophic environments characterized by harsh environmental conditions are considered as challenging habitat for colonization and growth of all life forms. These conditions include elevated temperatures, prolonged exposure to sunlight, and deficiencies in organic matter, moisture, and soil nutrients. In such environments, lithobionts may play an important role as the main sources of primary production and maintaining the ecosystem functioning. Unfortunately, our knowledge regarding the taxonomic diversity, potential functions, and ecology of limestone quarry/mines remains quite limited. Here, we explored the taxonomic composition and metabolic potential of lithobiontic microorganisms dwelling carbonate rocks of a limestone mine in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India by using high-throughput shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Community profile analysis revealed that the lithobiontic community was dominated by bacteria (98.94 %), with a minute fraction of the Eukaryota (0.77 %) and archaeal population (0.23 %). Microbes belonging to Phylum Cyanobacteria (39.74 %), Proteobacteria (35.21 %) and Actinobacteria (10.34 %) were predominant followed by a remarkable share of Chloroflexi (4.77 %) and Firmicutes (2.41 %). Metabolic potential analysis, based on six functional modules of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database, revealed that functional genes involved in microbial metabolisms are highly represented in this community (59.68 %). Functional analysis of the carbonate microbiome indicated their capacity to influence carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles. Results suggest that the oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria contribute significantly to primary productivity as well as carbonate precipitation in such arid and oligotrophic environments. Multi-omics level study on isolated cyanobacterial strains is underway to gain deeper insights into habitat adaptation and the functioning of lithobiontic niche of cyanobacteria in carbonate rocks.

How to cite: Singh, J. and Maharana, C.: Metagenomics of carbonate rocks from limestone mines, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, reveal insight into lithobiontic microbial community and biogeochemical cycling., EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-18368, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18368, 2024.